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House Bill 1 (3rd C.S.) |
House Author: Pickett et al. |
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Effective: See below |
Senate Sponsor: Nichols |
House Bill 1 amends the Transportation Code to authorize the Texas Transportation Commission to use the Texas Mobility Fund to provide funding, including through a loan, for a port security, transportation, or facility project eligible for funding from the port access account fund.
House Bill 1 requires the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), on or before August 31, 2015, to identify and implement measures resulting in at least $100 million in savings in TxDOT's appropriations for the 2014-2015 state fiscal biennium and requires that the savings then be used to reduce the principal of and interest on bonds and other public securities issued, and bond enhancement agreements entered into, by the commission with no consequent reduction in the amount of funding available for transportation projects.
House Bill 1 amends the Government Code to require the speaker of the house of representatives and the lieutenant governor, not later than September 1 of each even-numbered year through 2024, to appoint a select committee consisting of five state representatives and five state senators to determine and adopt for the next state fiscal biennium a sufficient balance in the economic stabilization fund. The bill requires the committee to adopt the sufficient fund balance not later than the December 1 after its appointment; sets out factors to be considered by the committee, including a projection by the comptroller of public accounts of the amounts to be transferred to the fund during the next state fiscal biennium; and provides for the legislature's approval or amendment of the adopted fund balance during the next succeeding regular legislative session, with final approval required not later than the session's 45th day.
House Bill 1 requires the comptroller to adjust the constitutional allocations to the economic stabilization fund and the state highway fund if either the comptroller determines that the projected economic stabilization fund balance after any applicable transfers to the fund will be less than the adopted sufficient balance or a sufficient balance has not been adopted for the comptroller to consider and specifies the adjustments required in each case. The bill establishes a process for the adoption of sufficient balances applicable to transfers to be made for the 2015 state fiscal year and the next fiscal biennium, respectively. The bill requires amounts transferred to the state highway fund from oil and gas production tax revenue in excess of a certain threshold, when appropriated, to be used and allocated throughout the state by TxDOT consistent with existing formulas adopted by the commission.
House Bill 1 also establishes select committees on transportation funding, expenditures, and finance in both the house and the senate, with their memberships appointed by the presiding officers of their respective chambers; identifies the subjects to be reviewed, studied, and evaluated by the committees; and requires the two committees jointly to adopt and report their recommendations to the legislature not later than November 1, 2014.
House Bill 1 takes effect immediately on the final canvass of the election on the constitutional amendment proposed by S.J.R. 1, 83rd Legislature, 3rd Called Session, 2013, if that amendment is approved by the voters.